With the popularization of handheld smart devices, distracted driving is one of the fastest-growing safety issues on the road. For example, according to the National Safety Council, a minimum of 27% of crashes involved cell phone-related driver distraction, including dialing, texting, and reaching. In the United States, automobile accidents are the fourth-leading cause of death. These distracted-driving accidents cause substantial loss of lives as well as economic harm.
Human head pose has been widely recognized as an important visual cue in estimating human focus of attention. In particular, in an automotive context, head pose estimation is one of the key elements for attention monitoring and driver behavior analysis, with applicability in distracted driving systems.